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Wooden Megaphones Amplify Forest Ambiance

A forest clearing in Estonia’s Voru County has been reconsidered into a space of meditation, relaxation and community engagement through the installation of three giant wooden megaphones.

Interior architecture students at the Estonian Academy of Arts have conceived the idea of a forest library near RMK Pahni Nature Center, a recreation area, where the quiet sounds of chirping birds and rustling leaves are amplified to surrounding site visitors, designboom reported.

The interventions, titled ‘Ruup’, span three meters in diameter, offering those seated and lying within ample space for reading or resting. Additionally, the conical shapes offer potential shelter for a wanderer or modest hiker to spend the night, as well as provide a platform for outdoor classrooms, small-scale cultural events and concerts.

“The trademark of Estonia is both the abundance of sounds in our forest as well as the silence there,” noted Valdur Mikita, writer and semiotician involved in the project. “In the megaphones, thoughts can be heard. It is a place for browsing the ‘book of nature,’ for listening to and reading the forest through sound”.

Hannes Praks, course advisor and head of the interior architecture department at the academy, says of the project’s remote location, “the farther we get from the intense vibration of the capital, the better we are able to sense the low-frequency vibration of nature. This is why the installation would be missing its essence if it were to be located next to Tallinn”.